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I installed a netgear wireless usb adapter a few days ago and I am having issues with it not staying connected. I originally had a belkin N150 adapter for about 3 wks upon moving my desktop out of the house 80 ft away in the garage. I have Windows XP and TDS telecom is my internet service provider. The belkin for the most part worked fine but I seemed to have trouble streaming videos without it keep buffering often. It very well may have not been the belkin but i wasn't sure so i went to walmart and bought 3 different adapters. I uninstalled the belkin and installed the Netgear N300 and it was working fine but after about 30 minutes it dropped a connection. I wanted to try the next one so i proceeded to uninstall the N300 and install the N600 and upon uninstaling the 300 , I took out the disc while it was uninstalling and I believe it was at that time it went into safe mode.

I booted it down and back up and one thing i did notice was that everytime i went to add/remove programs, i saw a netgear there but there wasnt a change/remove tag on it. I still instaled the other devices one at a time and was still having issues with the adapter not being detected. I did system restore to before the point of removing the belkin and installing the N300, reinstalled the N300 and I believe it was fine at that time as far as connecting and detecting the adapter. That other Netgear was also not showing up anymore. I still wasnt satisfied as upon restarting my pc, it went into safe mode. I called Netgear and tried several things and the ast thing i was told to do was download the latest updates for that adapter then install using the flashdrive I downloaded to only and not the Netgear software disc.

I did that and everything seemed to be fine. So far it is working the best and last night I wanted to do a disc cleanup and defragmentation. I let it do that overnite and this morning when I came to the pc I had a blue screen saying the pc went into safe mode. I unplugged the adapter, booted it down then powered it back up. So far in the 30 minutes I have been in my garage, it has lost connection twice. I checked the usb connections, the 2 in the front and even plugged it in one in the rear as well. My pc was worked on back in around 2007, was an original emachines and the guy rebuilt and put more memory on . It came back with a dell casing so I'm not sure if its a dell now or what. I need to go somewhere on the pc and look up the information and see what information is on there??????? Also a few yrs ago, I had a guy work on my pc after a virus and he put a 149 GB hard drive on it. So yeah I need to be familiar with what type of machine it is now. I know it doesnt have a high speed usb port on it. I did install a cd burner, ( says on it compact disc rewritable, dvd multi recorder, dvd + rewritable.) It has 2 usb ports on the front and 2 on the rear.

Its keeping the connection fine now for about 30 mins straght since the 2 times it dropped but I just wanted to get with you guys to see whats going on and if theres anything I can do to eliminate all of those troubles. I wanted to make sure the connection of the usb ports are in tact and not just any little touch of the cord of the adapter will cause it to drop connection, though the modem is high and nothing is able to touch the cable. Also, I have an Actiontec 724 or 7224 wireless router thats in the house. My wifes laptop and her desktop and the ps3 is hooked up to it also. It is about 80-100 feet from the garage, maybe as much as 120 including the walls. The technicians say the range of the N adapters would be around 130-150 ft I believe.

I also wanted to make sure that I didnt have any driver problems or anthing go bad and if there are things you guys can tell me to do to check and see nd make sure I am good to go or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Darn , i noticed that with the garage door open, the signal is much much better. Its an 18x21 shop and the pc is at the back wall so its about 20 ft from the garage door. It should be able to pull through that door just fine though i would think.

Oops it just dropped again, about 40 minutes after it last did it but its holding 54 Mbps with the garage door up. I have seen it hit i think 48 once with door down, but 36 highest average , and fluctuation between 18 and 24 also and going as low as 5. The TDS tech told me my Actiontec router is putting out a max of 6 Mbps though.

ALSO, WHEN IT DROPS A CONNECTION, I UNPLUG IT AND PLUG IT BACK IN AND IT RECONNECTS RIGHT AWAY

It appears that your desktop PC is not only located a long way from your router, it's not even inside the house. I don't think you have an adapter problem, I think you have a problem with distance and walls.

You may do well to add a wireless repeater to your network's configuration, placed about midway between your router and your desktop PC. See this Microsoft article for tips. Step 5 deals with the wireless repeater, but I recommend you read the entire article: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/w ... ips.aspx#5

Generally, the best results are obtained when you stick with the same brand for all your wireless network's equipment.

havent read the article yet but one thing i will point out is there is nothing but empty space in between the house and the garage and nowhere to put the repeater halfway, or really near half at all. 20 ft from pc to garge door and another 80-100 to the router. The N adatper is supposd to have a range of up to 150 ft i believe. I am now moving the router closer to the door and end wall of the home to try and get it closer and also might consider moving my pc to the other side of the garage wall.

To test the quality of your wireless connection, try Xirrus Wi-Fi inspector .... http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector .... it's a free download and has a number of tests that can be run to give you an indication of whether your connection is stable or not.

Gary R wrote:To test the quality of your wireless connection, try Xirrus Wi-Fi inspector .... http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector .... it's a free download and has a number of tests that can be run to give you an indication of whether your connection is stable or not.

Gary R wrote:What quality do you get if you move the computer closer to the router ? (is this possible without major inconvenience ?)

Is 2.5 comparable to the DL speeds you got before you moved your desktop away from your router?

I am going to take the pc in the house and put it on my kitchen counter which is 20-30 ft from the router and see how it does and if it continues to drop connection. I will then take it outside but next to the exterior of the house and see what it does then. If it drops connection still, I might have a faulty adapter and might need to take it back.

Signal strength certainly seems the most likely candidate as the cause of your problems, the only other thing I can think of is that someone nearby is using the same channel as you and there could be sporadic interference caused by this.

Xirrus should indicate the available networks around you, and you should be able to see if any are using the same channel as you.

You are using an N adapter. What about your router? If your router does not support the N protocol, then it is likely using the G wireless protocol, which does not have the same range and performance as the N protocol.

Gary R wrote:Signal strength certainly seems the most likely candidate as the cause of your problems, the only other thing I can think of is that someone nearby is using the same channel as you and there could be sporadic interference caused by this.

Xirrus should indicate the available networks around you, and you should be able to see if any are using the same channel as you.

even if they are on same channel i wouldnt think that should cause anything, I mean it shouldnt u would think lol.

to the other poster, i am calling them now to see if its a g or n and if what i have is different would cause an issue.

technical service so far is saying he thinks its a g lol. He told me how i can check for sure when i get home. If it is a g I'm on the edge of the max distance and probably need to upgrade to an N router. If so hopefully they will give me a discount for my inconvenience and I can turn the other router back in.

Ok just confirmed it is a G router and I can do an upgrade for 14 bucks so I am going to take the pc in the house, will be 20-30 ft from the router and see if i still have issues but i still think i need to get that N router

ok, brought pc into house and so far no issues with disconnecting. Its about 40-50 ft away from router by the way. I do know that the router I have is a G router. Techs and most people say they believe the N adapters are supposed to be backwards compatible so it might not be the adapter. It may be that I need to get an N router that allows for up to 150 ft of distance vs. the 50 to 80 ft allowance for the G's.

I may go to walmart and see what N routers they have and get one and bring home and try and see how that does. TDS does have a V1000, im assuming its an actiontec also but i may not get from them cause they lease their routers. Hell even now i dont want to keep leasing the one I have it i wasnt having issues , i'd rather buy and not pay that monthly lease fee of 5-6 bucks.

upon edit:

well it disconnected about 5 minutes ago. I have a belkin that I am going to try, a belkin adapter. With the belking n150, i dont remember it disconnecting. I have a 300 also and will try it out. Im thinking its possible the 2 netgears may have malfuntioned upon the uninstall problem I had last week. I will try the belkin out tommorow. I mean the pc is in the house and it cant be a distance issue now.

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